• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Food Blog
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Me
  • Work With Me
  • Recipe Index
  • Join
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • Hello and Welcome!
  • Work With Me
  • Contact Me
×

Home » Recipes » Main Dish Recipes

General Tso Cauliflower & Mushrooms

Published: Feb 25, 2017 · Modified: May 3, 2020 by Colleen 13 Comments

Sharing is caring!

344 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
Jump to Recipe

General Tso Cauliflower & Mushrooms is my healthier take on a take out stand by. General Tso Chicken is a popular dish on Chinese restaurant buffets and take out menus.

General Tso Cauliflower & Mushrooms

It Isn't Really Chinese

Did you know that General Tso chicken, is an American invention? They don't eat this stuff in China. I found some great history about this dish from this humorous answer to a Quora question on the HuffPost blog: What Is the History Behind General Tso’s Chicken?

Two bowls of Mushrooms and cauliflower in sauce

A Healthier General Tso

Personally, I'm not a fan of the restaurant chicken dish. I've always just found that, for me, the texture is often dry and chewy, and the sauce cloyingly sweet. Still, though, there's always been, in the sauce, a tantalizing hint of something really good. A little bite of heat and a promising bright tartness.

I wanted to recreate that sauce for this cauliflower and mushroom dish. But lighter and without all that sweetness. However, every recipe I found had a crazy amount of sugar. So I left the sugar out completely and didn't miss it at all. I added a little bit of fish sauce for a touch of salt and flavour. And for the spice, I used sambal oelek.

Two black bowls of food with chopsticks

What is Sambal Oelek?

Sambal oelek is simply a chilli sauce, similar to, yet different from sriracha. It's very easy to find in most grocery stores, (in the Asian section). And if you can't find it, or don't want to make a special trip to buy it, go ahead and use sriracha, or any other Asian chilli sauce. Your General Tso sauce will still be really good, just a tiny bit different.

Sambal oelek is a staple seasoning in Indonesian, Thai, and Malaysian dishes. It's a very simple sauce made from ground chilli peppers, vinegar and salt. The name, literally, means ground chilli. It's a good one to have around when you feel like trying your hand at some authentic dishes, or just for a change-up.

A skillet with mushrooms and cauliflower is stirred with  a wooden spoon

Cauliflower plus Mushrooms = Delicious

But finally, General Tso Cauliflower and Mushrooms is crazy easy, and incredibly delicious. You can have this on its own with steamed rice or noodles, or as part of a larger menu. There won't be any leftovers.

Want more vegetarian cauliflower dishes? Try Cauliflower Marranca or Roasted Cauliflower Lentil Curry

General Tso Cauliflower & Mushrooms

 

Recipe

A bowl of food, with mushrooms and Cauliflower

General Tso Cauliflower & Mushrooms

A vegetarian cauliflower & mushroom dish with all the flavour of General Tso, minus the fat and sugar.
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate Save Recipe Recipe Saved!
Prevent your screen from going dark
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Chinese, Vegetarian
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 103kcal
Author: Colleen Milne

Ingredients

  • ½ cup low sodium vegetable stock
  • 3 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce*
  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon sambal oelek or any Asian chili sauce
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce*
  • 2 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 medium cauliflower cored and cut into bite sized florets
  • 2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
  • 1 green onion thinly sliced
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Boil a large pot of water. Add cauliflower and allow to par boil 2-3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
  • In a jar with a lid, combine stock, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sambal oelek, cornstarch, and fish sauce. Put lid on jar and shake well to combine.
  • Heat a medium skillet (cast iron works best) over medium-high heat. Add peanut and sesame oil. Add mushrooms and cook, turning, until starting to brown, about 2 minutes.
  • Add cauliflower and cook, stirring, until brown and fork tender, about 1 minute.
  • Shake jar one more time, and pour the sauce over cauliflower mushroom mixture.
  • Cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened and glossy, about 1 minute.
  • Remove from heat, and garnish with green onion.
  • Serve hot, with steamed rice or noodles

Notes

*Make this recipe vegan, by leaving out the fish sauce. Instead, taste and add salt to desired salt level, or use a vegan fish sauce, or Chinese cooking wine.
*Tamari is gluten free, but if you are gluten free, there are soy sauces labeled as such. If not, they may contain gluten.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 103kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 100mg | Potassium: 269mg | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 95IU | Vitamin C: 13.4mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 0.6mg
Tried this Recipe? Pin it for Later!Mention @TheFoodBlog or tag #thefoodblog!

General Tso Cauliflower & Mushrooms

More Main Dish Recipes

  • Spicy salmon sushi bake casserole in a glass baking dish.
    Spicy Salmon Sushi Bake
  • A black and white bowl filled with cream cheese chicken chili.
    Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Chili
  • Cajun shrimp & sausage pasta in a white bowl.
    Cajun Shrimp and Sausage Pasta
  • Shrimp chop suey and rice on a black plate.
    Shrimp Chop Suey

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Julia

    January 13, 2019 at 12:51 am

    This is a really interesting way of using cauliflower! At the moment I only eat cauliflower if I steam and mash it, so I'll try this out 🙂

    Julia

    Reply
    • Colleen

      January 13, 2019 at 8:11 am

      You'll be glad you did try it Julia! Cauliflower is so versatile, and this is a delicious way to enjoy it.

      Reply
  2. Beth

    March 27, 2017 at 5:54 pm

    I had this for dinner with rice. It was delicious!

    Reply
    • Colleen

      March 27, 2017 at 8:11 pm

      Hi Beth! I'm so glad that you tried it and liked it! And super happy to hear from you. Cheers.

      Reply
  3. Ayngelina Brogan

    March 03, 2017 at 9:51 am

    Did you watch the Netflix documentary on General Tso? It was fascinating.

    This month I'm really focusing on eating more vegetables so this recipe is perfect, thank you!

    Reply
    • Colleen

      March 03, 2017 at 10:29 am

      Hi Ayngelina! No I didn't watch it, but I'm putting it on my Netflix to watch now. Thanks for the tip 🙂

      Reply
  4. Loreto Nardelli

    March 03, 2017 at 9:17 am

    I loved that you used and trusted your intuition. I love Cauliflower We did a Arabic rendition with it and also an Indian sweet chili, but had not thought about Asian. It sounds so good I am going to try this for sure and let you know.
    Have a great day!
    [email protected]

    Reply
    • Colleen

      March 03, 2017 at 10:30 am

      Thanks Loreto. I love cauliflower, and everything you can do with it. Your recipes sound wonderful and I'll be checking them out! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Elaine @Flavour and Savour

    March 03, 2017 at 8:48 am

    Cannot wait to try this! I'm a big fan of Sambal Oelek but NOT a fan of Sriracha! These flavours would be terrific on cauliflower. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Colleen

      March 03, 2017 at 10:24 am

      Thanks Elaine! We love both in our house 🙂 But the Sambal Oelek is the best choice for this dish.

      Reply
  6. Danielle

    February 25, 2017 at 10:13 am

    What a wonderful idea for cauliflower! I love the flavors of General Tso's chicken, so I think this is a fun take on that. And I love the use of fish sauce, I think it adds such a great flavor to so many dishes.

    Reply
    • Colleen

      February 25, 2017 at 10:37 am

      Thanks Danielle! If you love General Tso chicken, I know you'll love this, too. I would love to hear back if you try it. Cheers 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Colleen, the creator of The Food Blog.

Hi, I'm Colleen!  I’m glad you stopped by. I hope that you’re here because you love delicious, simple, mostly healthy recipes . Because that’s what I do and I want to share it with you.

More about me →

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Trending Now

  • Air fryer roasted vegetables on a black plate.
    Air Fryer Roasted Vegetables
  • A bowl of vegetables and noodles with chopsticks
    Vegan Pho – Quick & Easy Pho Recipe
  • 2 blackened cod loin pieces on a white plate with lemon wedges and salad greens.
    Blackened Cod
  • Salmon & spinach pasta in a white bowl.
    Salmon Spinach Pasta

In Season Now

  • Cubed roasted red beets on a white plate with a silver fork.
    Air Fryer Beets
  • Two stuffed air fried acorn squash halves.
    Air Fryer Acorn Squash (Stuffed)
  • Two halves of spaghetti squash after being air fried.
    Air Fryer Spaghetti Squash
  • Sautéed Green Beans With Garlic & Lemon
  • Chicken thighs on a white plate garnished with green onions.
    Buffalo Chicken Thighs
  • Buckwheat Squash Salad
    Butternut Buckwheat Salad (Gluten Free)

Never Miss a Recipe!

Join to be notified of new recipes, and get cooking tips and kitchen tricks delivered straight to your inbox.

https://unique-hustler-1506.ck.page/c5c5495dcd/index.js

FEATURED IN

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright
  • Accessibility

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Work with me

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2023 The Food Blog

344 shares